5 Responses to “Some videos”

Wow! Amazing stuff! Thanks so much for “caring” enough to “share” these videos. :)

Pretty much everything Art related in the first video really synced with my research on permaculture and ecosystems. He mentioned things like being “sustainable” and the need for “awareness”. He also mentioned how the change through discipline, as he called it, occurs slowly over time through persistence. In effect, small changes, slowly made over time, result in a big impact.

He mentioned interacting and influencing the right people to change the culture. This is totally in sync with a quote I heard before (can’t remember who said it though) that basically states that you can’t force the change of an ecosystem but instead you can only “disturb” it and it will react in turn. So like he said, you can’t force change, you can only influence people, plant the “seed” if you will, and keep nurturing and tending that seed as it grows within the corporation.

Finally both Art and Nada mentioned two critically important things. The need to care (empathy) and the need to share. These two ethical principles form the core of permaculture and if you look at most great communities or even relationships that you’ve been a part of within your life, you’ll find these two things are at the heart of them as well.

And thanks for the comments. I completely agree about the importance of empathy — more exactly, understanding that it’s a shared world that matters differently to different people — as the root of moral action.

The more you get to know someone, to know their story, to relate to them, the less chance for friction to occur.

Also all of the “old rules” for engagement and interaction are becoming useless because of the changes occurring around us within our cultural “environment”. It’s no different compared to how animals have to learn to adapt and react to the climate changes going on around them in their environments. They need to be aware enough to realize the changes going on around them and to care enough to do something about it. Actually I think animals might have an easier time with the change because our culture has bred this detachment and lack of awareness of what’s going on around us because we are so focused on ourselves (i.e. ego, bling, etc). I mean ask most kids where milk comes from and they’ll tell you “the store”. :)

“I completely agree about the importance of empathy â€” more exactly, understanding that itâ€™s a shared world that matters differently to different people â€” as the root of moral action.”

Well said and I’m seeing this everywhere. For example, I do web design and one of the prominent designers right now, Jeffrey Zeldman, talks about the importance of empathy in design.

“Jeffrey Zeldman answers the question: what does a web designer need most? Skills and knowledge of software, of course, but empathyâ€”the ability to think about and empathize with your userâ€”is by far the most important.”

What Art Kleiner describes that “we don’t have a word for” – the caring and sharing – is what I have called “organization-ba” in my research findings. It has to do with creating an environment of mutuality throughout all aspects of organizational practices, and among all the valence or binding relationships that create organization itself. This first requires a change in the way people are valued (and value each other) in organizations, ultimately reflecting the way identity is (mutually) constructed with respect to organization. Strong “organization-ba” is an indicator of an organization that is consistent with the contemporary, ubiquitously connected and pervasively proximate (UCaPP) world.